John emory meek



(No Model.)

J. E. MEEK.

ELEeTEIe EEATEE.

Patented Sept. 8, 1896.

@mM/weon@ THE Nowms Pnsns co. wom-uwe vusnms UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN EMORY MEEK, OF NEV YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE II. IV. JOHNS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE. i

ELECTRIC. HEATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 567,247, dated September 8, 1896.

Application filed January '7, 1896.

To all whom, t may concern.-

Ee it known that I, JOHN EMORY MEEK, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Heaters, (Oase A5) and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others 1o skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to electric heaters for heating the atmosphere in a chamber or compartment, and more especially is designed for use in electrically-propelled street-cars. The disadvantage under which many forms of electric heaters forstreet-cars heretofore made suffer is the fact that from their bulkiness and other features of construction it is im- 2 o practicable to spread the heating-surface over a suflicient area of the car, but said heating surface is concentrated into two or four heaters, with the result that persons seated or standing near said center of radiation are scorched or warmed 'uncomfortably while passengers in other portions of the car are cold. To overcome this difficulty and obtain a heater the heating-surface of which will be widely distributed through the car, which 3o shall take up little room and be cheap in construction and equable in its variations of heating eect, I have designed the form of apparatus illustrated in. the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure l is a front elevation of one of my heaters with a portion of the casing broken away at the ri ght-hand end. Fig. 2 is a crosssection on line 2 2 of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a crosssection on line 3 8, Fig. l. Fig. et is an en- 4o larged detail view of a portion of the heater,

other portions being broken away. Fig. 5 is a cross-section on line 5 5 of Fig. il.

The main feature of my invention consists of a woven fabric of asbestos or other insulating and incombustible fiber, in the woofthread of which is embedded an electric conductor. This electric conductor is preferably a fine iron wire, which has been covered with asbestos yarn by weaving, winding, or

5o braiding the same about the wire. This fabric, with the embedded conductor, is cut into seria No. 574,597. N0 model.)

sections and attached to any suitable backing, such as apiece of asbestos millboard, either by pasting, stitching, or tacking it to Y the same, and is then, or at a previous stage of the manufacture, treated with a proper quantity of size or other material for stiifening the fabric, rendering the asbest-os ber Waterproof and otherwise iitting the fabric to withstand the conditions of use. This treat- 6o ment may be by japanning or any other method well known in the arts. The fabric so stiffened and attached to the backing of insulating and incombustible board is then preferably placed in some light metal case to protect it from abrasion, and the case is then attached to the front of the longitudinal seats in the ordinary form of street-car.

Referring to the drawings, like referencefigures refer to like parts.

l represents generally a section of a woven fabric of asbestos, with a metallic wire embedded in the woof of said fabric and serving as an electrical conductor. The terminals of the wire running through each section of the fabric are represented at 2 and 2a. Of course, there are as many separate sections of said Wire as there are sections of the heater, and they maybe connected together either in series or in multiple arc, as desired.

ll is'the insulating asbestos or other fiber of the Woof-thread surrounding the conducting-wire 2, as best shown in Figs. et and 5.

3 is a backing of any kind of incombustible board,such as asbestos millboard,to which the 8 5 asbestos fabric is attached either by pasting, stitching, or tacking.

4 is a light sheet-iron or wire or other metal frame placed over the heater and having the openings 5, through which the heated air may 9o escape from the interior of the heater. This frame or shell 4L is attached to the metallic back 6 by means of the bolts 7 and the nuts 8, and in conjunction therewith forms a metallic shell or inclosing-frame for the heater.

D, Fig. l, represents a strip or section through the woven fabric in which the conductor 2 is omitted from the woof thereof. This forms a heater into two electrically separate sections, each having its closed circuit 10o or conductor 2. Of course, the conductor may be omitted from other intervening porfe maar? tions of the Woof of the fabric, and thereby are formed as many different sections as desired in the heater.

l0, Fig. 5, represents the size or other stift'- ening and Waterprooing substance, such as japan, which protects the insulation from the action of moisture and gives the fabric a desirable stiffness sufficient to render it selfsupporting independent of the backing 2, if necessary.

The method of operation of my invention is evident. The heaters are fixed to the side of the seat or other` convenient portion of the in terior Walls of the car, and on account of the slight thickness of the heater and its complete insulation it takes up but little room and cannot scorch the passengers, even if their clothing,` is pressed against the face of the heater. A number of heaters are distributed throughout the car, and thereby the amount of heat necessary from each heater is reduced and the possibility of an uncomfortable degree of local temperature avoided. The conductors 2 2 of the various sections are connected up in any proper way, but preferably similar sections of different heaters are connected in series, so that one section of each heater may be thrown in to produce a low temperature and two or more sections of each heater to produce higher temperature. In that Way the temperature Will be equable throughout the car whether high or low, and the disadvantages resulting` from the usual method of cutting` out one or more heaters entirely While others are rfouliatinlg` their lull amount of heat are obviated.

Having therefore described. my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is

l. An electric carheater which consists ol? the combination of a Woven fabric of asbestos, or similar incombustible and insulating fiber, with an electric conductor embedded in the Woof of said fabric, and a backing` ot' incombustible millboard to which said labric is attached, said fabric having,` a proper quantity of size or other material .for still?- ening applied thereto, substantially as described.

2. An electric car-heater which consists oi the combination ol a Woven fabric of asbestos, or similar incombustible and insulatiiml iiber7 with an electric conductor embedded in the Woof o'i' said fabric, and a backing` ol incombustible millboard to which said fabric is attached, said fabric having a proper quantity of size or other material for still?- ening applied thereto, said 'fabric being divided into two or more electrically separate sections by the omission of thc conductinfrom the intervening threads of the wool", substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I ai'IiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN EMORY MERK. lVitnesses:

A. PARKER SMITH, F. S. MILLER. 

